Respect your elders.Stay off Sawyer property.And don’t even think about that Sawyer girl…

Boone Cross was raised with three simple rules, and falling for Josie Sawyer broke every one of them. That is, until a year ago, when he ​did the unthinkable and she moved away.

Josie Sawyer never thought she’d be on a plane, flying back to Arkansas for the summer, only a year after her heart was crushed into a thousand pieces by the boy her parents forbade her to love. But ​her father is dying, and being stubborn isn’t an option.

In a town this small, it’s only a matter of time before she runs into Boone Cross.
A lot’s changed since she last laid eyes on him, but some things have remained exactly the same. Boone’s got designs on her and he won’t give up until he gets what he wants.

​But as they give in to the need to be together once more, ​secrets ​come to light ​revealing​ a ​history of a hatred between their families that runs ​so ​deep that even the strongest love may not be able to survive.

Something tickled my feet, but I was too tired to move. I had stayed up most of the night, crying into my pillow. Once I realized I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon, I packed my suitcase. I’d only fallen asleep three hours before.

“Josie,” someone whispered.

I knew by the smell of cigarettes and that raspy voice that it was Samantha. Opening one eye, I stretched my arms above my head. Samantha’s face was coated in glitter from brow to chin. Her belly shirt and go-go boots told me she’d just gotten in. Go-go dancing wasn’t her first choice to pay the bills, but neither of us complained when those tips started rolling in.

She threw her purple wig to the floor, revealing a nest of brown curls. “What the—” she said, picking up one of the wads of Kleenex that littered my bed. “Is something wrong with my Sookie?”

I sat up straight, feeling my puffy eyes with the tips of my fingers. “Yes,” I said, looking into her eyes for the first time. Bags hung underneath each painted eye, and her frown told me I looked as bad as I felt. “I’m going home. My mom called.”

Samantha arched a brow. She knew the relationship between my mother and me was rocky.

“My dad is dying,” I choked out.

Samantha’s arms flew around me. “I’m so sorry, Sookie. Are you okay? God, that’s a stupid question. When are you leaving? Do you need me for anything?”

I relaxed into her arms. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend. When I moved from Arkansas to California, I was as lost as a damn goose trying to get around. But then I met Samantha in freshman calculus. She took me under her wing and, three weeks later, rented me the empty bedroom in her apartment. We’d been best friends ever since. “I’m leavin’ at two. I just need a ride to the airport.”

She nodded against the crown of my head. “I can do that. In the meantime, how about some pancakes?”

I pulled away. The thought of eating made my stomach turn but I couldn’t say no to that hopeful face. “Pancakes sound nice.”

Fifteen minutes later, after I called the diner and told them I had to take some time off, we sat at our small kitchen table eating buttery pancakes.

“How long are you going to be gone?” she asked. She’d taken off her makeup and looked like an actual person now. Her high cheekbones and full lips were bare, and she’d never looked prettier. She was one of those girls who didn’t have to try to be gorgeous—she just was.

I shrugged, pushing the pancakes around on my plate. “They said he has a month. So I guess I’ll be gone a month.”

Sam’s frown deepened. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry. I can’t believe this is happening to you.” She kept her eyes on mine and I could see she wanted to ask something else.

“Go ahead and ask.”

The corner of her lip rose into a small smile. “I know you have to go, of course, but wasn’t there a reason you hadn’t gone back in the first place? I mean, you never really told me why you didn’t want to go home.”

More pain assaulted my chest, and it took everything in me not to burst into tears. I hated feeling so weak and helpless, but the memories were dancing at the corners of my vision, taunting me.

And all because of him. Because I’d fallen in love with a person that unlovable. Heartless. That’s the only reason I could think of why he would leave me. Alone. He’d been my anchor for an entire year. I’d spent a year in the woods, each night letting him hold me in that deserted treehouse of his.

Until one day—he vanished. Not literally, but emotionally. All those memories, stories, kisses—his touch. Those eyes. Everything had vanished from my life without as much as a goodbye. And as many times as I’d lain there, waiting for him to come back, he never did.